But whoa! Steady up on that high’n mighty horse yer ridin’ there, Phil. Some voters who listened to the debate may recall back in fall 2011 when you, Mr. Scott, clumsily wedged partisanship into what had been a politics-free zone for the Irene recovery efforts.

Here’s what he told his fellow Republicans at a fundraising dinner that he observed – or thought he observed – during the Irene recovery effort: “…. As I crisscrossed the state and witnessed recovery efforts, and saw the truck drivers, the equipment operators, the law enforcement personnel, the National Guard members, the municipal leaders … and it may have been my imagination, but I do believe most of them who were doing the work were Republicans.”

Perhaps caught up in the moment, alone with GOP buddies at last, he continued hammering the wedge home, for his Republican teammates, making it personal:

“… We are the doers. We’re the ones that get the work done …Isn’t it ironic that with the majority of Vermonters declaring themselves Democrats, that Governor Shumlin would have to lean on Republicans like myself and Neale Lunderville to help steer the ship, to come up with common sense solutions during adversity to get things done.”

Several days after his 2011 remarks and a flurry of criticism, Scott clumsily backtracked. He suggested that he didn’t really mean it and probably wasn’t a good thing to say.

That was then and this is now. Back then, alone with his GOP team Scott thought “…most of them doing the work were Republicans.” Now Phil is shocked – shocked – by such partisan talk and soft-pedals it, since most of them doing the voting are Democrats.